Little help for a young bride? Please?

[tristinashley]

Help help help! I''m a young bride to be (19) but Ralph is 27. The problem isn''t money or anything like that but it''s the fact that I have NO idea about weddings! I''ve never even been to one before! =P Soo.. I think my Ralphy and I want a small wedding because we want to put more of our focus on the honeymoon and what we''re doing for that. So ladies, help me, what am I doing? What do I need to do? I''m thinking I want our wedding to be in the youth building of my church (we are both very old fashioned and love the Lord) so I want it to be at church and the place I feel most comfortable is the youth building. Problem? It''s not very traditional.. it has navy blue walls and is very teenish.. is this a no no? I don''t want my wedding very stiff feeling.. but I still want the traditionals with my dad walking me down the isle and everything. Also for the invitations.. i want to make them myself (im the artsy type) but is it weird to write individual invitations to each person invited? I want to say different things to them all.. is that okay? Help is very needed.. hah.

Ps. I want a cute dress but something cheap (I hate "wasting" money) but my problem is I''m very skinny.. size 1-2 and I can''t find anything anywhere. Help with that would be very appriciated as well.

Thanks ya''ll, much love and gratitude.

Tris

 

[rockzilla]

Tris,

Congrats on your engagement! I think in your situation a church wedding sounds lovely - I''m assuming the ceremony will be held in the church and the reception in the teen room? If you are worried about it looking too "teen-y" are there other rooms at the church you could use? How many people are you expecting?

As for invitations, if you have more than say, 10-20 people, I think it would be tough to do an individual invitation for each person. BUT, you could still do make the invitations yourself with the standard wording, and add a card or note with your personal wishes. Plus, you don''t want to completely wear out your writing hand - you''ll need that for thank yous after the wedding!

Once you decide on a room, if you are able to take photos and post them here, I''m sure folks will be more than willing to help you with decorating ideas.

I can''t really suggest anything for the dress, except if you live in a city/area with a significant asian population you may be able to go to a dress store or seamstress that caters to that group, since there are a lot of petite asian brides. Also, consider getting a white or ivory colored bridesmaids dress instead to save $.

RZ

 

[misysu2]

Hello Tris,

Whew! Where to start!?

First of all, I''d say you get married wherever you want. I think the thing all of us learn while wedding planning is that you just need to do it your way. If the youth building is what you want, do it! You can always still have a traditional ceremony there if you''d like.

For dresses, don''t worry about being skinny-- go out there and try some on. See what looks good on you. David''s Bridal has $99 sales and other brands such as Maggie Sottero and Casablanca are in the $750-1500 range. You can also try consignment shops, Ebay, preownedweddingdresses.com, etc to get more bang for your buck.

Are you wanting a reception? If so, a less expensive and easy way to do it is book a private room at your favorite restaurant.

Good luck!

 

[tristinashley]

Actually no I was really thinking the ceremony in the teen room.. haha. But not if that would be absolutely wrong wrong wrong! That''s why I''m here. I''m clueless. =P But it''s actually not a room it''s the teen chapel so it''s a pretty big room. It seats at least a few hundred.. but that''s why I''m thinking that room because we want maybe 100 guests and the actual church building is very large and I just think the room would feel too empty.. I want everything close and compact.. kindda, you know? And it''s not like the teen chapel is very childish its just young adultish. I don''t know how to explain it, I''ll have to try to get pictures up soon so you can see. But I was thinking the ceremony could be in the youth chapel and right outside the chapel is the youth hang out room I was thinking the reception could be there. It has tons of sofas and just space to mingle and hang out. (though now that I think of it I''m not sure what all goes on at a reception?)

Thanks for the already great ideas, keep them coming!

Ps about the dress I''m 5''7 so I need a long slinder dress haha, thanks for the idea about David''s Bridal I''ll have to check that out! And internet shopping is not an option because I rarely ever find anything in person to fit, so I''m too scared to order something I cant try on, too much hassle.

 

[misysu2]

Don''t worry about the dresses not fitting you. They WILL fit after you order them in an appropriate size and are then tailored.

As for "internet shopping", you can always look for dresses you like online (you can view all of those Maggie Sottero''s, etc.) and THEN find a bridal shop in town that carries that line. Go see them in person.

 

[Pandora II]

Buy a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings - it has a great pull out section at the back with a list of To Do''s. You don''t have to do all of them, and you can add your own - but it''s a good starting point and may tip you off about things you hadn''t thought of.

 

[tenfour]

tristinashely...
the fact that you have never been to a wedding is a bonus. your mind is a clean slate and can make it all about what you and your fiance want. forget asking what people ''absolutely need'' to do. everybody will have a different answer for you and you will be confused. have it wherever you want, wear whatever you want, and invite whoever you want. that is my only advice!!

 

[lucy love]

Congratulations!!!!

I LOVE that you guys want to get married in the youth chapel. I''m marrying a youth pastor, and the idea is just awesome! who else has done that??! I haven''t heard of anyone. Weddings are supposed to look and feel like what you and ralph love. make it your own!

invitations: if you want to write to each guest and you''re thinking around 100 - i would maybe just have invitations made (or printed on your computer) and you could write notes to them on the back or something. i don''t think hand-writing each invitation is going to be the wisest decision. it''s going to be sore on your hands and all that.

dresses: i agree with rockzilla... try looking at long bridesmaid dresses instead of wedding gowns. some of them you can''t even tell that they''re bridesmaid dresses, and they''re a LOT cheaper. otherwise - sometimes you can find nice white dresses at department stores like macy''s when it''s prom season (like now!).

anyway, we''re here to help you along this wonderful journey!! when''s the date, anyway?

 

[mimzy]

my first thought was that if the room is navy blue go BOLD with your other colors! magenta, lime green and even orange all look awesome with navy blue

 

[ephemery1]

The ceremony/reception can be whatever you want them to be... so definitely don''t worry about that. If you and your fiance are both most comfortable with the youth chapel, then I would imagine that will be fine... but you might want to check with him on that... if he''s 27, he may be more comfortable in the "adult" chapel!

As for hand-writing invitations, I agree with Lucy that it will be quite difficult to hand-write 100 invites, and may end up looking sloppy. At the least, very very informal. I understand the sentiment behind writing individual messages, but I think it will look much nicer to add your own little note to an already-printed invite.

You definitely won''t have any trouble with a dress... wedding dresses come in all sizes, from very small to very large. Because it is currently "prom season", you may end up finding something cheap in a juniors department somewhere... start looking!

Good luck with everything.....

 

[SarahLovesJS]

Hello and welcome! Hmm, do you not want to use the sanctuary at the church? As for invitations, why don''t you look into DIY kits? Let me know if you need links, I have a bunch people gave me. That way you won''t have to handwrite. Look for some trunk shows because sometimes the dresses there are 1s or 2s. Anyway, almost any dress will be able to be ordered in your size so don''t worry about that. I second getting Martha Stewart Weddings, it''s great. Some of the other magazines are great for looking at photos, so go invest in about $20 worth of magazines, it''s fun! Also, you might want to consider buying or making some kind of planner for yourself. Hope this helps!